A computer executes software applications to provide users with desired computing functions. Software developers create such software applications by generating source code within a development environment. A development environment typically consists of a suite of software tools executing within a development workstation. A development workstation operates upon a particular computing platform, typically defined by its processor type and operating system.
After generating source code, a developer compiles the source code within a build environment of the computing platform. Compilation creates object files which are then linked together within the build environment to form a software application. This process also creates an output file which the developer may examine to identify compilation errors, etc. If errors occur during building of the software application, the developer may investigate the errors by viewing a directory structure of the build environment and/or log files generated during the build.
The software developer cannot be certain that a build will proceed properly on other computing platforms, even those which are similar to the computing platform of the development environment. To address the foregoing, a software developer may create a build environment within each computing platform on which the software application is intended to run. The software developer then builds the software application based on the source code within each build environment and inspects the resulting output files, log files and/or directory structure.
The foregoing approach is time- and resource-intensive. Systems are desired to facilitate building of software applications on different computing platforms. Such systems may also facilitate evaluation of the completed build.